This invention relates in general to vehicle seats, and in particular to a vehicle seat arrangement in which a relatively flat horizontal support surface can be formed.
A typical four or more person passenger vehicle includes a pair of front seats and either a single relatively wide rear/second row seat or a pair of rear/second row seats. For larger vehicles such as vans and sport utility vehicles, a third row seat can be included. The third row seat is typically a single relative wide seat generally spanning the lateral width of the interior of the vehicle. The seat includes a seat back and a seat bottom.
In some vehicles, the seat backs of the second and third row of seats are pivotally connected to the seat bottom. The seat backs are movable between an upright position, for the seating of an occupant, and a collapsed position, wherein the seat back is pivoted forward to a position above the seat bottom. It is sometimes desirable to configure the seat back of the second row seat so that when the seat back is in its forward position a back surface of the seat back is generally horizontal. The back surface of the seat back can also be coplanar with the collapsed seat back of the third row seat. It is known to provide a panel which is manually movable to a position to bridge the gap of the second and third row seats so that a relatively flat horizontal support surface is formed.
It is also know to provide a third row seat which is pivotable to storage position within a recess formed in the vehicle floor for storing the third row seat. The seat bottom has a rear portion which is pivotally mounted on the vehicle floor. The seat bottom includes an upper surface and a lower surface. A seat back is pivotally mounted on the seat bottom, and is movable to a collapsed position onto the upper surface of the seat bottom. Once the seat back is moved to its collapsed position, the combination of the seat bottom and the seat back are pivotable about 180 degrees to their storage position within the recess formed in the floor of the vehicle.
This invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly which includes an automatically deployed load floor. More specifically, the vehicle seat assembly mounts on a vehicle floor and includes a seat bottom pivotally mounted relative to the vehicle floor. The seat bottom defines an upper surface and an opposed lower surface. The seat bottom is movable between a seating position, wherein the upper surface faces upwards, and a storage position, wherein the lower surface faces upwards. A panel is pivotally connected to the seat bottom. The panel is automatically moved between a first position underneath the seat bottom when the seat bottom is in the seating position, and a generally horizontally deployed position when the seat bottom is moved to the storage position.